The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established by Sainik School Society, and conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, to rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the Officer cadre of the Indian Military, and to prepare students for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune and Indian Naval Academy. Today there are over 24 such schools covering all the states of the country.

The Sainik School in Kerala was chosen by the Chief Minister of Kerala, the Late Pattom Thanu Pillai, to be at Kazhakootam in the early sixties, and an area of 300 acres of undulating terrain was acquired on a hillock, close to the National Highway. Presently the school has 225 acres of land. The school is situated 18 kms away from Trivandrum on the National Highway 47. The sprawling campus, nestled between the slender strands of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, is an ideal location for a military oriented residential institution.